Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu

Venkaiah Naidu was born in a Kapu family[8][9] as the second son of an Indian Army official Subedar Appayya Naidu in Machilipatnam, British India.[1] His older brother Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu was a noted educationalist and social reformer.[4][5] His ancestors worked as Commanders in the Army of the East India Company and Madras Army in Hyderabad Regiments. At the age of 18, he moved to Madras and started drawing pictures and carving sculptures at Mount Road and selling them. He then learned photography and founded a photographic studio.[4]

In 1909, he introduced Chrono Mega phone, equipment that relates sounds with pictures, from John Dickinson and Company. To pay for the Chrono Mega phone he bought for ₹30,000, he rented out his photo studio. He shot 12 short films and exhibited them in Victoria Public Hall. He also travelled to Bangalore, Vijayawada, Sri Lanka, Rangoon and Pegu to exhibit his films.[10]

In 1910, he established Esplanade Ten House to exhibit his films. In 1912, he constructed Gaiety Talkies on Mount Road, the first Indian-owned cinema theatre in Chennai. He later constructed Crown Theatre on Mint Street and Globe Theatre in Purasawakkam, Madras. He also exhibited American and British films. Some of the first movies shown in his theatres were Million Dollar Mystery, Mysteries of Meera, Clutching Hand, Broken Coin, Raja's casket, Peral fish, and 'Great Bard'. He established a film library and provided training on cinematic techniques.[4]

In 1919, he started a production company called Star of East Films and a film studio called Glass Studio. He sent his son, Raghupathi Surya Prakash Naidu, to study cinematography in London. Father and son made their first movie "Meenakshi Kalyanam" around actual locations of the Madurai Meenakshi temple. Later, they produced films like Gajendra Moksham, Mathsyavatharam, Nandanaar, and Bhishma Pratigna, the first Telugu mookie (i.e., movie with no playback voices).[11] He faced high competition with East India Film Company, and went bankrupt. Later, his son and Yaragudipati Varada Rao established a long-lasting precedent of focusing exclusively on religious themes; Nandanar, Gajendra Moksham, and Matsyavatar, three of their most noted productions, centered on religious figures, parables, and morals.[12] Venkaiah died on 15 March 1941 due to medical illness.[1]